Communism

Known as Ho Chi Minh city since the late 70’s the city is still often referred to as Saigon by pretty much everyone…even VC vets we’ve spoken to! Saigon is a busy, bustling, crazy kind of place, it almost makes you feel like you can’t get your breath at times. With the worlds largest number of

This month is a little different to the others, mostly because it is 7 weeks long, closer to 2 months! We originally intended to only spend around 3 weeks in Vietnam, but our dream of riding a motorbike from Saigon to Hanoi was something we couldn’t turn down. However it turns out that touring a

How to describe such a place, such a heavy day. I remember upon returning to the hostel after what has to be one of the most intense, moving and overwhelming days of my life at Choeung Ek Phnom Penh. I felt drained to the core, my head was throbbing and my stomach churning with the

Beijing is the crazy capital of China, landing here was like a whirl wind. The beeping, the noises, the spitting and the smog, it felt a world away from what we knew back home and despite the initial shock we were ready and excited for this adventure out east. The capital might not be the

We love exploring abandoned places, call us strange, but there is nothing quite like the eerie atmosphere of discovering a forgotten or over looked area of a city. Creeping behind the everyday, off the beaten track and into a lost world, a time capsule of a bygone era. A museum that you can interact with,

For anyone who has visited the capital cities of the Baltics you can’t help but feel the similarities and yet their own personal uniqueness, and everyone will undoubtedly have their favourite! For us there was something about the chocolate box cobbled streets of Tallinn, the pastel shades punctuated by the ancient churches, the mixture of

Riga was a strange one for me, I had been due to visit a few years back with freinds when the Icelandic volcano blew up and ruined our plans!! For a long time I had wondered what I had missed out on and always dreamt of finally visiting! So here we were, in this wonderful,

Back in 2014 we made a crazy journey over from Poland into the at war Ukraine. Unsure what we might find we discovered a beautiful harsh country with vast contrasts between the emerging modern state and the weight of the soviet past. We vowed to return and to head to Kiev, the capital city everyone

For years now visiting Chernobyl and the post apocalyptic abandoned soviet town of Pripyat had been a dream. There is something eerily alluring about the idea of a town trapped in time, as the world has moved on this time capsule of the soviet era has been slowly crumbing. Twisting this once idealistic Utopian dream

We had heard about the secretive state of Transnistria as we had been travelling through Eastern Europe. We heard rumours of a dangerous border crossing, bribing guards, Russian military and a currency that is only recognised within its tiny borders sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine. But having a rather unhealthy obsession with Communism, sketchy border

Have you ever had dreams of crawling through a tiny hole into a dark and damp crumbling ruin, the smell of decay piercing your nostrils and you step over piles of rotten communist relics. Probably not, well that is unless you are as strange as I am! Well, there’s more to it than having a

Our first impression of Sofia wasn’t amazing, we arrived in a storm from Kosovo and the big city almost ate us up! We initially stayed in quite a run down area of the city and we felt like we were just coasting through. After having to move to another hostel across the city that’s when

Tirana was our first stop in the mysterious land of Albania in what turned out to become an 11 day love affair. But we must be honest, Albania wasn’t love at first sight! Tirana is a strange and fascinating city, one which feels large, modern and bustling. But yet also trapped in time and still

As the last strong hold of Yugoslavia and the de-facto holder of the title, Serbia is a country which more than many others retains several communist relics. For us this is an era that we are fascinated with and we often go out of our way to find these hidden or forgotten about remnants of

For as long as we have been interested in Urban Exploration we have wanted to head over to Sarajevo and explore the abandoned Bobsleigh track from the 1984 winter Olympics that were held in the city. Not only does the idea of such a ghostly structure sitting above the city interest us as an exploration,

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Meet The Roaming Renegades

We are Nic and Paul, The Roaming Renegades! A married couple who are quitting the 9-5 for a life of travel & adventure. We are leaving behind the "normal" way of living in which we are conditioned into giving away our best years for a retirement which may never happen. Live for today we say! Our travelling style is to see the world through alternative perspectives, getting off the beaten track, going on wild adventures and participating in some "Dark Tourism!"
Follow our crazy adventures around the world! Read more if you are intrigued!.